I'm Trying Not To Drown
by KitKatBuckyBear
Summary: Pietro survived the attack on Sokovia from Ultron, but that doesn't mean he can survive his own mind...or can he? [[ONE-SHOT; POST-AOU; AU WHERE PIETRO IS ALIVE AT THE END]]


Blood covered his hands, stained his jeans, and flooded the floor around him. Pietro was shaking, and for the first time in a while, not just because of the speed that was flowing through his body. No, he was shaking, trying to stop the blood from flowing from his sister's throat as she laid in his lap, her body shaking as her big, brown eyes started to go lifeless.

"No, Wanda stay with me! No no no no no! Wanda!"

It was no use, though. She was dead, limp in his arms. Tears began to sting his eyes as he quickly looked up, glaring at the man in front of him. No, not a man; The MONSTER in front of him. The monster that had killed his sister, mother, and father. Tony Stark.

"YOU DID THIS!"

Screaming on the top of his lungs, Pietro set his sister's body down carefully, watching as Tony backed up. He didn't even look sorry for what he had done, the pulsar beam glove still on his arm as he just looked at the twins. Pietro, however, wasn't going to take that. Once Wanda was down, Pietro stood as fast as he could before running at Tony. He shot another pulsar beam at the twin, the same way he had done to burn open the front of Wanda's throat when she tried to dodge it, but Pietro was much, much faster than either of them. Ducking down, the beam cleared his head without a worry before he got to Tony, and grabbing his wrist, he pushed his arm up and twisted it around. He could just hear the sound of Tony's arm popping out of place, and it was the slowest, most satisfying sound Pietro had ever heard. He didn't smirk, though. Instead, he listened to the sound of Tony's scream before throwing him onto the ground and landing on top of him. Once there, he began to throw his fist into Tony's face. Punch after punch, he watched as blood began to run down Tony's face. He didn't stop, though. Not until his skull was crushed in. Stopping then, breathing heavily, Pietro backed off of him, staring down at what he had done.

Tony Stark was dead.

Wanda Maximoff was dead.

And there was nothing left for Pietro Maximoff.

Sitting up as fast as he could, Pietro gasped for air, breathing heavily as he checked his hands first thing. They weren't bloody, so that told him that it really HAD only been a dream. That meant that Wanda was alive. Collapsing backwards in relief, Pietro let out a shaky sigh before running his hand through his hair. However, he noticed that Wanda wasn't next to him. After his nightmare, that didn't help his thoughts any, and quickly the speedster sat up again. It was then that he finally noticed the note left by Wanda. She was out for a walk, and that sounded like a really good idea for Pietro. Setting it back down, he got out of bed, quickly got dressed, and was running into town in less than 5 minutes.

That didn't mean he KEPT running, though. He had used his speed in his nightmare, and if he wanted to leave that behind, he couldn't run through town. Ignoring the people blinking as he seemingly just appeared in the middle of town, Pietro shoved his hands into his pockets, looking straight ahead as he walked down New York City's streets.

At least, he did for a few minutes.

Hearing a scream of terror, Pietro's eyes quickly shot over to the sound, and what he saw had him widening his eyes. There was a building down the street, on fire, and a woman trapped on the fire escape. From this distance, he could have almost sworn it was Wanda, but he knew it wasn't. That wasn't her scream, a noise he knew far too well for his liking. No, this woman was a stranger, but she was in danger. Who knew when the fire fighters would be able to get there. They wouldn't get there faster than Pietro. Focusing, Pietro took off, dodging the other people as he dashed into the burning building at the end of the street.

Pietro had never felt heat like the heat of a burning fire literally 3 feet away from you. He paused, blinking away the shock of the sudden light being thrown into his face, his arms moving up to shield his eyes. He had no time to waste, though. Just before he could run up the stairs, though, the stairs higher up collapsed, trapping anyone else in the building. He just HAD to get them out, though. Taking a deep breath, but careful of the smoke, Pietro ran up what was left of the stairs. Then, he carefully stepped onto the wall, using his momentum to keep him from falling as he ran up the rest of the apartment complex to the top. It sounded like everyone else had gotten out, except for the woman at the top.

Once he reached the area where he could clearly hear her screams again, he jumped back down to the floor and ran past the flames. He had to jump over a few fallen beams and around a burnt up couch, but he eventually made it out to the woman. She stopped screaming, instead looking at him in horror. He had to resist the urge to roll his eyes, though. He was saving her life, and she was scared of him. She didn't really have any other choice but to trust him, though, did she?

Scooping her up in his arms, Pietro almost had to force her to lay her head down on his shoulder, shielding her face from the flames. Once she was ready, though, he took a deep breath of the fresh air before running back into the flames, dodging the couch and the beams, and running down what was left of the stairs. Within seconds, though, they were back on the street, and he carefully set her down. He didn't let go of her arms, though, making sure she was steady on her feet. She was holding onto him, anyways.

"Are you alright?"

"Thank you! Thank you, thank you..." The woman was almost sobbing her thank you to him as she gripped his arms, people starting to crowd around. He only glanced around once, though, before refocusing his attention on the woman. She was /thanking/ him, and that was something that he didn't hear often from people other than Wanda and Darcy. No one had thanked him growing up, while the Sokovians had thanked him when he stole their medicine for them, no one thanked him after what had happened with Ultron. He didn't blame them for that, though. Now, he was being thanked for saving someone's life, and it filled him with a warmth that he actually enjoyed. The woman saw her family, and instantly was letting Pietro go and running towards them, collapsing on her brother or husband (he wasn't sure which), and Pietro just stood there, letting her go and smiling. People were starting to close in on him, though, and his attention was once again pulled to the crowd. Some were asking his name, others were asking if he was an Avenger, and some even were asking if he was real. While it was all amusing to him, one man screamed out a single word that caught his attention more than all of the praise.

"FREAK!"

Glancing towards the man, he noticed that he was /old/. He probably thought that Pietro had no place in the world. And he was right. There /was/ no place for Pietro. At least, no physical place. His place was next to his sister, next to Darcy, and with The Avengers, wherever that was. Just smirking towards the man, Pietro winked at some of the girls before taking off back towards the Avengers Facility. He couldn't wait to tell Wanda what he had done.


End file.
